Ultrasound imaging is a medical imaging technique for imaging organs and soft tissues in a human body. Ultrasound imaging uses real time, non-invasive high frequency sound waves to produce a series of two-dimensional (2D) and/or three-dimensional (3D) images.
Pneumothorax, also referred to as collapsed lung, is a common medical condition that is frequently observed in emergency medicine or critical care departments. Pneumothorax may be a spontaneous or secondary condition of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), trauma, or a medical procedure. The initial evaluation of trauma patients typically involves a chest X-ray, which has a poor sensitivity for the detection of pneumothorax. Ultrasound has shown to be more sensitive than X-ray for detection of pneumothorax and has the advantage of being non-radiating and immediately available at the critical-care or emergency-room bedside.
Ultrasound images may provide various indications useful in identifying pneumothorax. For example, the pleura region of B mode ultrasound images may provide a “shimmering” effect that indicates lung sliding. In M mode images, a normal lung may show a “seashore sign” with transition at the pleura between subcutaneous tissue above the pleura and a wavy pattern of movement generated by lung sliding motion below the pleura. FIG. 4 is a screenshot of an exemplary virtual M mode image 400 having an M mode ultrasound image portion showing a seashore sign 402 as is known in the art. Pneumothorax prevents detection of motion in M mode images, appearing instead as a “barcode sign.” FIG. 5 is a screenshot of an exemplary virtual M mode image 500 having an M mode ultrasound image portion showing a barcode sign 502 as is known in the art.
Another indication useful in identifying pneumothorax in ultrasound images includes the absence of B lines, which are comet-tail reverberation artifacts that appear as bright vertical lines extending from the pleura to the bottom of an ultrasound image. Moreover, identification of a lung point or transition point, which is a point on the pleura where a transition between normal lung sliding and no lung sliding can be seen, is indicative of pneumothorax. Lung function is regional in nature. For example, a condition present in one section of one lung may not be present in other sections of the same lung or in the other lung. Moreover, analysis of lung ultrasound images is typically performed on an ultrasound scan covering at least one breathing cycle. Currently, a physician may review and analyze multiple images from multiple zones of the lungs to manually detect indications of pneumothorax. Detecting lung sliding is a labor intensive process when reviewing large numbers of images. Furthermore, detecting the “shimmering” signs in B mode images and/or the “seashore sign” or “barcode sign” in M mode images requires significant effort and can be missed.
Existing ultrasound and post-processing systems do not enhance the visualization of lung sliding for review of an operator of an ultrasound system. Furthermore, existing systems do not automatically identify a representative ultrasound image that highlights potential pneumothorax based on no or partial sliding. Moreover, existing systems do not provide a virtual M mode tool based on raw data of colorized B mode images to facilitate review of M mode image data corresponding with colorized and non-colorized portions from a B mode image display.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.